Book Spotlight: Dagger's Sleep

A prince cursed to sleep.

A princess destined to wake him.

A kingdom determined to stop them.

High Prince Alexander has been cursed to a sleep like unto death, a curse that will end the line of the high kings and send the Seven Kingdoms of Tallahatchia into chaos. With his manservant to carry his luggage and his own superior intelligence to aid him, Alex sets off to find one of the Fae and end his curse one way or another.

A hundred years later, Princess Rosanna learns she is the princess destined by the Highest King to wake the legendary sleeping prince. With the help of the mysterious Daemyn Rand, can she find the courage to finish the quest as Tallahatchia wavers on the edge of war?

One curse connects them. A hundred years separate them. From the rushing rivers of Tallahatchia’s mountains to the hall of the Highest King himself, their quests will demand sacrifices neither of them could imagine.

Tricia, oh Tricia. This was truly my favorite of all the novels she has written so far. Blades of Acktar will always have a soft place in my heart, but this was a beautiful, beautiful story.

I didn't know what to expect when I received the ARC of Dagger's Sleep. I knew it was going to be good, but different. I was yet again immersed in a world that melds Western influences with Midieval structures and ideas. As before, it's a familiar landscape with the dense forests I imagine myself playing in during my childhood, but the political and social structures are feudal, with Kings and Princesses. In this case, it's also very Native American influenced, and I was intrigued. Beyond that, however, it was the story itself that really shines this time around, as well as the characters. Tricia has grown so much since her debut Dare, and this is really a beautiful story. It is allegorical in nature, and powerful at that. I was surprised at the combination of Fae with these characters who wore moccasins and talked about the Lord of All, but it works so well in this story.
Tricia is gifted at writing sensitive but strong characters, and Rosanna is just that. I loved her immediately. Hers and Isi's friendship is sweet and loyal. Alex, although arrogant, has a soft side that kept me turning the pages knowing, and waiting, for him to change. And Daemyn... how can you not fall for Daemyn, really?
The ending was sweet and made me teary; it ties in all the loose ends, and all your favorite characters are viewed in a redeemable, forgivable light (which is my favorite way to end a story). I'm going to stop here lest I give away too many details. Just go read it!

About the Author

Tricia Mingerink is a twenty-something, book-loving, horse-riding country girl. She lives in Michigan with her family and their pack of pets. When she isn't writing, she can be found pursuing backwoods adventures across the country.

You can connect with her on Facebook, Pinterest, Goodreads, Twitter, Instagram, and her blog.

Welcome to May!

CampNaNoWriMo is finished! I'm a bit behind on sharing how it went only because the weather has been so nice. Until today. Apparently since we didn't get enough rain in April we get it now. But summer is coming, and I'm praying this year will be great. It will be great. I am so thankful for energy to spare after work, and the use of my hands without hindrance or pain. I'm grateful for walks in the evening and the desire to bake, garden, write and do all the things I love again. I am so thankful for Godly friends and family who have surrounded me with prayers.
Beyond this, I have so much to share!

I made it well over my goal of 15,000 words, somewhere into 17,000 and I am very happy with that!

Ember is growing slowly but steadily, but I've reached a point where some details need to be mapped out, so I'm exploring the Scrivener software and loving how easy it is to create folders and subfolders. Everything is right there and I don't have to leave the page! This is both very convenient and a great time-saver because then I'm not wandering off on rabbit trails through Pinterest and Facebook since I don't need to flip between the 'net and my files. My favorite part of story-telling is world-building, and this software is wonderful for that. I used to have multiple files in my documents, and pictures saved on Pinterest, but now I can have them all in one place. World-building is a complicated and delicate process that requires a lot of thought and observation, with some research, and the creation of "rules" and functions. (This, among other reasons, is why I am not a short-story teller unless it's a novella or similar of an already created world of mine. I won't take the time to create something if I can't explore all possibilities, and why use up grand ideas for something so small??? ;D )

I haven't used Scrivener for long and I've not used it for anything complicated yet. (Though I did just play around a bit with the name generator on it this week, what fun that is!) If you are interested in it, please feel free to message me through Facebook (or comment below). I have won a coupon for it through NaNoWriMo and as I was shared a code from another writer friend, I would love to pass it on before the code expires.

I have also done a thing which scares me half to death and also makes me very excited at the same time.
I have registered for Realm Makers! Wow! I can't believe I just said that!

I've prayed about it for two years and it is actually happening! Realm Makers is a Christian Speculative Fiction writer's conference held annually. Christian fiction has really exploded in recent years, thanks to social media and other influences (we might be able to happily blame Lewis and Tolkien for that, though Tolkien was not as intentional and people mistakenly give him too much credit for it). What used to be available was something like Amish Romance/ soft romance and other "Inspirational" literature but now we have more variety than ever before. Personally, I'm very happy about this because as a voracious fantasty-novel reader, I always found it very difficult to acquire good, wholesome fantasy literature when I was younger. The Christian Fiction market was seriously lacking, and so I never actually read any Christian Fiction at all. In a way, I think this taught me how to self-edit while reading which can be a good thing, but is not for everyone. It is my hope that by getting the word out about the Spec Fic genre, other Christians can find well-written books that share a good message in a creative way. I would like other readers who, like me, enjoy deeper literature with dimensional worlds, characters, and lots of adventure to have such books easily available to them. Literature is a wonderful way to teach us about empathy, consequences, and to think deeper about simple questions. I'm really excited to be able to attend this conference with supportive friends!

Soon I will share my Spring Have-Read list, but I didn't want to drop a huge single blog post on you this month after missing an entire month. I am so happy to that I have been able to read a little more again. I hope you're all enjoying your Spring!

P.S.: y'all should check out Speyer's Farm Market. Part of the reason I'm behind on blog posts is because I've been outside gardening, and Speyer's is my favorite place to shop for flowers. #1 Their plants are excellent quality, always healthy, well manicured (I would know, I have worked there, and we plucked and pinched and groomed those babies to perfection) and hardy! #2 Great prices! Speyer's has competitive prices, especially considering that the quality of the product that you buy there is top notch. Bob and Karen personally select and maintain each plant and each produce item. #3 You can have choices! I once decided to shop at a very popular flower market that many people had suggested to me, and I was a little disappointed that they flats are arranged quite differently so that you can't select as much variety as you like. The little plastic trays that are connected to one another came in larger quantities. I prefer purchasing the flower trays in smaller quantities, in threes or fours, rather than sixes. It allows me more options in plant type and color, and, frankly, I feel this is more cost efficient for me, too. #4 They are very accomodating! I have personally witnessed employees going out of their way on a very busy day to find or retrieve an item for a customer that requires either a trip several greenhouses over or out to the field to pick it.
So there is my little rant about Speyer's. :)